#far northern NY

[deconstructingchabad]

The Rebbe and LGBTQ Rights

Warning for: extreme homophobia, transphobia, conversion therapy, medicalizing language, etc etc

Chabad is nothing if not an expert in PR. Unlike other Chassidic factions, or, indeed, other Chareidi (what you might call "ultra-Orthodox") factions in general, Chabad has spent a lot of effort into disguising their true politically conservative views until you've already been sucked in. This had led to the very false belief, especially among younger generations who aren't so familiar with Orthodox Judaism as a whole, that Chabad is on the progressive side of Orthodoxy.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

While Chabad doesn't hold any views unique to Charedi Judaism with respect to the rights and respect of LGBTQ individuals, they have done a better job at hiding them.

You may think that perhaps this isn't such a bad thing- after all, isn't it a good thing that Chabad isn't picketing at Pride parades or outright throwing queer people out of their Chabad houses? And while of course it's good that Chabad isn't engaging in those types of homophobic and transphobic behavior, that doesn't mean that what Chabad does engage isn't just as harmful.

Chabad will be intentionally vague to outsiders about their true opinions of LGBTQ people, while in reality they fund and campaign for conservative political leaders and agendas and make life a living Hell for those unlucky enough to be born as queer into the movement.

Since Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, or 'The Rebbe' as he is better known, is the axial power within the Chabad movement (despite being dead for decades now), lets take a moment to unpack what he actually believed about LGBTQ people.

I (OP) am a transgender man. In January of this past year, I was lucky enough to be able to get a gender affirming double mastectomy, something that I had been yearning for for years and something that I, seven months later, still do not regret. But the months leading up to my surgery were fraught with emotional battles with my parents, who are deeply involved in the Chabad movement. They felt that what I was doing was wrong and went against, if not Judaism as a whole, then their values within Chabad. As part of my parents' attempts to dissaude me from continuing my medical transition, my mother sent me a letter the Rebbe had written to a seemingly trans (if not, at least, gender questioning) individual. Followers of the Chabad movement place immense value onto responsa letters by the Rebbe, even to the point of almost placing as much value on them as Torah, so it was no surprise that my parents held this letter, written in 1985, to such a high pedestal and as something to base their current beliefs upon.

Here is the scan my mother sent to me:

RABBI MENACHEM M SCHNEERSON Lubavitch 770 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 1123 493-9250 Mr. Chabad of Northern California 2340 Piedmont Ave. Berkeley, Ca. 94704 Greeting and Blessing: By the Grace of G-d 22nd of Av, 5745 Brooklyn, N.Y. This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 7th of Av. There is surely no need to point out to you at length that one of the basics of our Torah, Toras Chaim, is that Hashem is the Creator and Master of the Universe, whose benevolent Providence extends to each and everyone individually, and that He is the Essence of Goodness, and it is in the nature of the Good to do good, particularly in regard to our Jewish people, to whom. he has given His Torah, Toras Chaim, of which it is stated that it is "our life and the length of our days," together with its Mitzvoth whereby Jews live. As you know, and indicate also in your letter, there are Mitzvoth which apply to Jewish males, and those that apply to Jewish females, and the distinction in regard to the fulfillment of the Mitzvoth, is a far-reaching one. In light of the above, it is not clear why you should want to interfere with HaShem's blessings and contemplate a change of sex; especially as it would immediately bring in complications regarding Torah and Mitzvoth, even assuming that there would be no problems in other areas. And since this is quite plain and understandable, there is no need to elaborate on it. As for your writing that you have sometimes had the desire to have been born a female, etc. it is not surprising that a human being cannot understand the ways of HaShem, Who surely knows what is best for every individual. If it is somewhat troublesome to you, it would be advisable that you However, if this desire should talk things over with a Torah-observant psychologist. I suggest that you should have your Tefillin checked to make sure they are Kosher. With blessing,, M. Schneerson

And here is a letter from 1986 that is often shared around that is the Rebbe's response to a man "struggling with homosexuality":

RABBI MENACHEM M. SCHNEERSON Lubavitch 770 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn. N. Y. 11213 493-9250 By the Grace of G-d 25th of Shevat, 5746 Brooklyn, N. Y. Greeting and Blessing: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Jan. 26th, in which you write about a serious problem. As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart's desires for good. While all blessings come from HaShem, a Jew is expected to do what is necessary in the natural order. In the matter of the said problem, you surely know that there are doctors and psychiatrists who treat it, and have been successful in many cases. I know of a number of cases of people who had this problem but eventually overcame it, married and raised a family. While on this topic, I would like to clear up a misconception that has led some individuals into confusion and wrong conclusions. The misconception stems from the argument that since some individuals are born with this problem, it must be a "natural" thing; hence it cannot be designated as a wrong, or a sin, and there is therefore no need to do anything to change it, or at any rate, it is not a serious problem at all. That this approach is entirely without foundation can be seen from the fact that the Torah (called Toras Chaim and Toras Emes because it is our true guide in the everyday life) declares that to indulge in it, or even to dwell on it mentally, is a grave transgression of HaShem's commandment. Hence, it is also clear that the problem is controllable, for if it were beyond human control, HaShem would not have made it a sin. The fact that the problem may largely be congenital does not alter the situation. Every day children are born with particular natures and innate tendencies or drives, some of them good and some of them bad. This is why human being have to be trained and educated, so as to develop and strengthen the positive characteristics and eliminate the bad ones. The Creator endowed human beings with the capacity to improve, indeed even to change, their "natural" (i.e. inmate) traits. A case in point is kleptomania. It is generally recognized that kleptomania is a very compulsive drive. But no one will suggest that because it is probably inborn and extremely difficult to resist, the kleptomaniac should be told that it is okay for him to steal, or that there is nothing he can, or should, do about it, and so on. Similarly in the case of one who is born with a drive to destroy things, or with a quarrelsome or aggressive nature, or with a propensity to cheat or lie, or any other inmate trait that is considered reprehensible. No normal society would declare that since one was born that way, one should be allowed to go through life according to his natural desires and tendencies. Such an

attitude will help neither the individual, nor the society. On the contrary, everything should be, and is, done to help individuals to overcome their neurological problems, whatever they may be. Needless to say, the person who is afflicted with this or other neurological problems, may well ask, 'Why has HaShem created such a compulsive drive, which is in direct contradiction to His moral Code? Why has He afflicted me, who desires to comply fully with His commandments?" No human being can answer such questions, which only HaShem, the Creator, can answer. One observation that can be suggested in relation to the question, "Why me?" If an individual experiences a particularly difficult, or trying, situation, it may be assumed that HaShem has given him extraordinary powers to overcome the extraordinary difficulty. The individual concerned is probably unaware of his real inner strength; the trial may therefore be designed for the sole purpose of bringing out in the individual his hidden strength, which, after overcoming his problem, can be added henceforth to the arsenal of his revealed capacities, in order to utilize both for infinitely greater achievements for the benefit of himself, and others. Maimonides, the "Guide of the Perplexed" of his generation and of all subsequent generations, who was also acclaimed as the greatest physician of his time, declares in a well known passage in his famous Code, Mishneh Torah (Yad Hachazaka): "Every person has the option (power), if he so desires, to direct himself to do only good and be a Tzaddik, or, if he chooses, to follow the bad road and be a Rasha. Do not ever think that a person is predestined from birth to be a Tzaddik or Rasha. Nor is there any inner compulsion to make a choice, but one has the capacity to choose the right behavior, and it is entirely a matter of one's own will and determination" (Free translation from Hil. Teshuva, ch. 5. See it there at length). A final remark from the scientific viewpoint. To say that the human mind and neural system are unimaginably intricate, is to say the obvious. Only the Creator knows His handiwork. But the Creator has endowed the human mind with wonderful qualities to probe the mysteries of nature, to research and experiment and steadily gain more knowledge about himself and his physical and mental capacities. Considerable progress has been made by scientists in their studies of the brain cells and hormones. It is now clear that a wide range of human emotions and sensations can be stimulated artificially with the aid of electronic and biochemical techniques. It is now generally agreed that most, if not all, neurological disorders, including deviant sexual behavior, probably proceed from chemical(hormone) deficiencies or irregularities during the period of youth. Some neurological disorders are already being treated successfully in certain areas involving the neural system, and it is to be hoped that the range will expand and eventually include the whole spectrum of neurological disorders, both of individuals and of nations.

In the meantime, we can only put our trust in HaShem, and strengthen our adherence to the Torah and Mitzvoth, of which it is written, "They are our life and the length of our days." With blessing, M. Schneerson

With the above two letters, you can see the Rebbe recommending seeing a "Torah-observant psychologist" (this is a euphomism for conversion therapist, as you will see) to someone questioning their gender identity and comparing homosexuality to kleptomania and neurological disorders.

In 1987, the Rebbe was quoted as saying the following about homosexuality: (I had to dig a little to find this because. PR experts. But. Thank you so much to The Canadian Jewish News for reprinting his statements in 1987 and saving all their scans.)

"Any bill that proclaims that the 'rights' of these people must be protected and supported, should be seen for what it really is: It is taking away their right to be really protected (also -- from themselves); it is depriving these people of the vitally needed help! In simple physical terms it will bring even more suffering and pain to them, to their loved ones and to all society. Certainly all must be done to assure that this will not occur." "We are not dealing with the inalienable right of freedom of choice; we are not dealing with the innate and sacred, democratic right of free will; we are dealing with an issue of abnormality." ''In simple language, (homosexuality) is a sickness. And just because the patient proclaims he is normal does not make the malady any less dangerous." "there is no insult intended and no derogatory attitude suggested. . . . When a person is ill and someone volunteers to help him get well, there is no disrespect involved at all. "A special responsibility lies on the parents, educators and counselors to educate those afflicted . . . with a loving and caring attitude." When one acknowledges that homosexuality is destructive, he will realize "that it is no different from a child who is born with the tendency to tear out his hair or bang his head against the wall. But there is a very tragic difference in that this trait when practiced is much more devastating because it destroys both body and soul." "One person may stay only to lick the sugar and ' 'swear the pill is sweet." Another may come along and say: "I don't care if there is poison under the sugar, so long as I can enjoy the momentary pleasure of the sweetness .'.. . I don't care what the consequences will be." "Is it truly satisfying after the act? Or does it only provide momentary gratification . . . Are all his (or her) protestations about 'the great pleasure' and 'satisfaction' really true? Or has he Just been saying this for so long that now he is not willing, or is ashamed, to admit that he is wrong." -

Now, you may say that the Rebbe was only repeating what was the scientific and social consensus of the time, but homosexuality was officially removed from the DSM in 1973, over ten years before the Rebbe made his statements. The mid-1980s, when the Rebbe made these statements, were marked by the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Americans from the AIDS epidemic, and yet the Rebbe thought it appropriate to compare homosexuality to kleptomania or a poison pill. This isn't me singling the Rebbe out for his homophobia and transphobia- his ideas certainly weren't unique, especially among other fundementalist religious leaders- but I am holding him to a higher scrutiny because of the way in which the modern Chabad movement has attempted to whitewash his ideologies and market themselves as any less than the religious fundementalists that they are.

But what about the modern Chabad movement? Surely, even if modern adherents of Chabad didn't hold the Rebbe's words to such esteem as they do, perhaps the movement's ideologies have progresses with the times, and, dare I say it, modernized?

Well, they have. Sort of.

Any reference to homosexuality or gender divergence as being a disease has been virtually scrubbed from Chabad's public records (of course, this doesn't mean that the previously shared letters don't get passed around in private circles, such as the letter my mother sent to me in an attempt to dissuade me from persuing life-affirming medical intervention), but you can easily find what today's Chabad religious minds have to say with a quick little Google search:

"The issue is marriage. Marriage is, and always was, a religious idea: the idea that a relationship between a man and woman can be sanctioned as a holy union, as a partnership in which G‑d takes part. Does the California Supreme Court believe that their ruling will obligate G‑d to enter a relationship He does not condone? Marriage is not a civil institution; it is a religious one. The Court's intervention in this matter is, in my opinion, a dangerous precedent. This is a decision that should be left to the clergy." -Naftali Silberberg, 2008

"How do you navigate that journey? Thank G‑d, we have a Torah that provides a map, given to us by the One who gave us life. It tells us which desires we can embrace and elevate, which longings we can subdue and tame, and which we must reject or re-channel entirely. The Torah tells us unequivocally that the homosexual act is of that last category. Even if it burns inside for a lifetime, the best thing for you, for your health, and for your ultimate satisfaction in life is to subdue and re-channel that desire........ .......So yes, just as we don’t judge a fellow Jew for breaking Shabbat or eating non-kosher, so we don’t judge for the type of sexual life they are practicing and certainly not for the desires they never chose to have in the first place. In all cases, we look deeper, to the divine soul within. Encourage such people in the good things they are doing. Help them grow in the realms of Jewish practice and spirituality where they wish to grow. Let that soul shine." --Tzvi Freeman

It's pretty hard to find any official statements regarding LGBTQ issues made by Chabad because the devil works hard but Chabad's PR team works harder; however, I have the advantage of coming from within the community, and I know where to look.

So here are a few anecdotes from people such as myself, and what they've heard and dealt with due to Chabad:

(TW: extreme homophobia, sexual violence, conversion therapy)

Chabad is by no means a progressive branch of Orthodoxy. It is not unique in its queerphobia in comparison to other Orthodox Jewish movements, but it has spent a great deal of time and energy generating an illusion of being "milder" than other Charedi wings, when in reality it engages in just as much suppression and exclusion, even to the point of conversion therapy, as other Charedi groups do.

Just because you've seen that one photo circulating around Tumblr of a Chabad shliach putting Tefillin on a rainbow-flag caped individual does not change reality. A Chabad shliach putting Tefillin on an individual they view as undeniably a man (even if that person identifies as a woman or nonbinary, which they could have) is not the progressive win you think it is. It is no different from the refrain you hear from fundementalist Christian groups that preach to "love the sinner, hate the sin". They still view LGBTQ people as inherently sinners, whether they're doing so with a smile or not. And while I believe everyone is entitled to their beliefs, it is the deception that is most insidious to me, and young queer people have a right to know who it is they're endorsing when they endorse Chabad.

If you are in a similar situation as I once was, here are some resources:

JQY.org

Eshelonline.org

[esther-dot]

I’ve always found it odd that in s8 Sansa started wearing her hair more like d@ny. Like that bun braid she’s got going on in the promos & those two little braids that frame her face at the dragon pit. I can head-canon that she chose to wear her hair like that in king’s landing for the sake of the unsullied. Perception is everything & their leader wore her hair that way—a strong woman capable of commanding an army; an intimidating woman. Sansa likely felt she needed to project an intimidating level of strength if she had any hope of securing Jon’s release & the braids could’ve been a way to subtly influence their perception of her. Meant to recall images of their leader & paint her as someone to be feared.

As far as wearing her hair the way she did at the start of the season…the best I could come up with is that she was doing it for Jon. And while it’s an answer I can accept (be still my jonsa-heart!) it doesn’t feel quite satisfactory. I’m wondering if you’ve put down any thoughts on this & might have something more for us to consider? Or perhaps a head-canon you’d like to share?

I remember this debate and there’s even an article about it,

(link)

But the idea that Sansa was copying Dany never made much sense to me because Sansa starts wearing the hairstyle before she’s met Dany? I think that Sansa's hair was meant to be a Northern style, and worked with the association of Sansa & Lyanna the show created (link).

Here’s a pic and another post about it:

(link)

And then in s8, looking at the hairstyles, even though there are braids in both, it looks to me as if they attempted to keep them distinct. Look how soft and loose Dany's is in contrast to Sansa's. Also, Sansa has a bun while Dany's braid is like a crown sliding off her head (ba-dum-ch!)

Even when I look at “Sansa’s war braids” at the dragonpit,

It doesn’t make me see Dany at all. She susually had two curls down by her face, but that was to soften her look, whereas Sansa's braids have the opposite intention. My main thought is that it’s weird the girl who wasn’t fighting got the armor-ish dresses while the two who were out there with the army of the dead did not! This may have been an effort to give her a totally unique hairstyle from the Northern cast, in prep for Queen Sansa?

I think the Jonsa implications would be in the Lyanna connection and the NedCat cosplay from s6-7. The fact that the finale rested on Jon’s (Targ) love for Sansa (Stark girl) makes me think there was some story-related reasoning back in s5-7 that carried through to the end even if they didn't really wanna follow-through on the implication. Making Jon appear as Ned and Sansa as Cat (the hairstyles are similar, not exactly the same but the script referenced the Cat thing at one point so it was intentional) also feels like something that was still present in s8 storywise. They were a unit, they did trust each other, but there was a lot of anxiety about that trust and pain about a perceived betrayal.

And in-world reasoning, I’d say that when in the South Sansa was trying to fit in at court so mimicking to greater or lesser extent the fashion made sense, and when she returned home, it made sense for her to start wearing styles she’d worn or seen as a girl.

(link)

[aisling-saoirse]

Tsuga canadensis - The Eastern Hemlock

Hello Everyone, today's plant profile should be familiar to you, I talk about Eastern Hemlock frequently on this blog and it's time I made a post that reflects my admiration.

To start let's deconstruct a common misnomer: While the name Hemlock connects back to the plant Poison Hemlock, Eastern Hemlock is not poisonous, English Settlers felt the scent of the foliage resembled that of the notorious herb. The Latin name Tsuga connects back to Japanese name for Hemlock Trees.

Now the basics: Eastern Hemlock is usually found in mountainous moist (but well drained) regions specifically around coves, canyons, ravines, and streams. The Tsuga family itself are a collection of evergreen conifers with an uncanny ability to grow on extreme slopes. The trunks themselves occasionally protrude from bare rock in bent forms (Image 4 from Kaaterskill falls, NY). Mature trees have pendulous flexible branches to avoid heavy snow loads.

Eastern Hemlocks can be found widespread throughout New England as far North as Nova Scotia and as far west as Minnesota, However as we move southward it becomes increasingly more restricted to the Appalachian mountains eventually ending in Alabama.

In it's native range, identifying Eastern Hemlock from other conifers is fairly easy, the cones (image 5 from inaturalist) are very small and round, while the needles are dark green shiny smooth on one side and a dull light green on the bottom. The needles come out flat upon the branch, almost like it's 2D when you take a cutting. The bark usually has very thick ridges (Image 7) and the tree has a lovely full triangular form (Image 10) at any age. There is only one other Tsuga species within the same range and that's Carolina Hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana), those are generally restricted to the western Carolinas, the needles protrude at any angle from the branch and cones have a type of curled spike. (taxonomy-wise they are not in the same series which is odd)

Eastern Hemlock is a long lived species, prior to the introduction of the Wooly Adelgid it was not uncommon to find groves of large trees way over 120+ feet and over 300 years old together. While more northern populations generally tend to be impressively large (Image 6 from Delaware Water Gap), Eastern Hemlock reaches its largest sizes south of Pennsylvania. Specimens in the Smokies still reach a staggering heights of 170' and ages above 500 years (Image 7 Below: Cheoah by Will Blozan). While this isn't as Impressive as its western counterpart Tsuga heterophylla which can reach an insane scale of 270', it is staggering for a tree which faces much hotter temperature conditions.

Just about all of the old growth Hemlocks in Appalachia have disappeared, but there are still old growth forests in Northern New England where the Adelgid hasn't really taken hold. Old growth groves do still exist in treated/cold winter/protected areas and somewhat thrive, I visited quite a few during my time in Pennsylvania. I believe the current species 'champion' is in the Allegheny Plateau.

So what is the Adelgid? It is an introduced aphid-like insect which appears as a wooly white growth on hemlock branches. They seems to kill older trees while younger trees are able to cope with it for a time, unfortunately these sap suckers have eradicated old growth stands throughout the Southern Appalachia. I made a post about my childhood forest loosing all of their giants years back, let me tell you it is a much different environment.

Ecologically speaking, Hemlock serves an incredibly important role in stream health. Growing on literal cliff faces this tree is also wonderful at preventing erosion. The dark evergreen shade of hemlocks not only reduces stream temperatures but retains moisture in the height of summer (image 8). it protects streams from extreme weather in winter too (Image 9). cooler stream temps serve as favorable breeding grounds for a higher diversity of stream species while also creating a refuge in winter cold.

If one wants to find moisture loving salamanders and newts in the east it is very common to find large numbers under the hemlock canopy. Tree falls of hemlock serve as fertile ground for fungi and mosses to cover the trunk. Birch and maple saplings often gain a foothold on the soft remains of Hemlock trees whose wood degrades very fast.

For human usage Eastern Hemlock has an odd history. The bark itself is very rich in tannins, settlers would use it for tanning leather. After the Industrial revolution it was used for railroad ties but today its often ignored or used as paper pulp because of its poor wood quality. As for less commercial functions Hemlock is not really an ideal tree for our consumption, The inner bark can be used as starvation food and the needles are a useful emergency Vitamin C source, However I will warn you that the needles are the least palatable of the edible conifers....

Due to it's poor wood and remote conditions it's not really unusual that so many old growth specimens survived up until the 21st century. Nearly all Eastern forest compositions are influenced by which lumber is most/least valuable.

Last portion - Landscape Value.

Eastern Hemlock in the wild is a beautiful tree in all seasons, naturally the tree will develop into a perfect form on its own, though with Adelgid it has lost popularity as a landscaping tree some people still maintain their trees with a once-every-three-year spraying. There are also many horticultural specimens worth thousands of dollars which have low growing and weeping forms, it is quite a versatile species.

So this has been my piece on the Eastern Hemlock, If you do choose to explore one of the few old growth groves still with us, please clean off your boots and gear. Happy Hunting!

[brb-on-a-quest]

Dear South Canadian,

It is with a heavy heart that I today take my leave of your country’s fine border. I will forever fondly remember the memories I have made and ice cream I have eaten here. Never fear, for I shall continue to haunt the narrative of the falls, and when you arrive I shall then haunt you. Lovingly, of course.

In the meantime, I leave with you a symbol of our country’s sisterhood and perhaps the best thing I have found in my travels:

Forever yours,

Your friend the North Canadian

*presses my face in between the gaps of the gate the liebetween us, staring longingly out into the distance as a random caravan fades away, imagining it to be yours*

*pulls away and starts opening up a notebook and a pencil and writes, with a sing-songy monologue appearing in herhead*

Dearest Iggy of the North Canada,

I pray this letter finds you in a state of health and returned quite comfortably to your own nest somewhere far up in the cold northern areas of Canada. I rue the day that our two countries had been torn apart (curses, Great Britain) and that we will not be given a chance to meet, perhaps for a long time when the great Borders Will Be Lifted and One of Us can Overstep the Lines that Bind Us. Instead, we must pass by our meeting place like ships in the night or two shooting stars that only just brush before continuing on their separate journeys. I shall provide travel stories, for sure, because we are actually going to Small Town NY that is some distance away from the falls and Niagara would only be a small day trip that I will pack as densly as I can with pictures and souveniours. I hope to find as many goodies to fill your inbox with. Perhaps not as many cool finds, but I will Take A Picture of A North Canadian Merch, Swear My Life On It. That being said, where did you find that beautiful America shirt.... we should match... or I should find a similar looking Canadian one or something.

I look forward anxiously to that fateful day in August because then I shall be traveling, and my life will have more routine and purpose, as well as a sense of adventure (and probably a sense of dread at riding in the same vehicle with my family for an extended period of time - I can hear the arguments already). I look forward forward to my inboxed being possessed by the spirit of a north Canadian. Let me haunt your mind, lovingly, as always,

Your South Canadian Birb.

[veranavera]

Tldr; My next trans-pride flag post will jump numbers from my previous post from peak 44 to peak 53. No I didn't forget a post, no you didn't miss one, and no I didn't lose my phone this time - I just reorganized the list of mountains I'm doing

For those of you who are curious about the details:

I reworked the current list of peaks I'm climbing to be a list of 131 of the P1k peaks in the Northern Appalachians. Because of this, some peaks that I climbed this summer that were previously additional peaks are now main peaks. The reason for the change is that I need to focus my efforts and make the 131 a realistic goal for me in my life right now, which is limited by time constraints (working), geographic constraints (living only in the Upper Valley), and life plans (not wanting to spend too much more time in the Northeast (currently thinking about staying through next August or so)). What changed is that now the list is a list of 131 of the P1ks in the region (i.e. nor an exhaustive list), as opposed to the previous cutoff of 1240ft, which was an odd choice in retrospect. The current iteration of the list can be found here:

https://www.peakbagger.com/List.aspx?lid=-948013&cid=39805

That being said, I don't view the current iteration of the list as any easier than the last, I just view it as more realistic for me given that the next time I'm living in my van, I'll almost certainly go to another region and won't want linger in NY/NE for long. What this means is that I'll have a very limited time window after I'm done working to hike more in the Northeast. Meanwhile, while I'm working, I'm simply unwilling to consistently drive 6+ hours each weekend to go bag a peak in Maine or the Catskills that isn't that much more prominent than a peak in NH/VT. Make no mistake, I'm still going to be putting *a lot* of effort into these peaks - this change just makes it so that that effort is as focused and fruitful as it can be

The peaks that have been retroactively added to the main list that I've already done are:

6/131 - West Kill - July 14

20/131 - Bald - July 28

22/131 - Western - July 28

23/131 - Ragged - July 29

24/131 - Megunticook - July 29

**update 2024-04-16**

30/131 - Azure - August 7

**update over lmao**

40/131 - Sugarloaf - August 23

41/131 - Mars Hill - August 24

50/131 - Peak 2620 - October 28

The photos of these peaks I've already posted here, but if you want to see them, feel free to check out my google drive of photos:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xlSe-BeaVVTCi7SD-xil3wXzDJ8zjHUs

Thanks for reading this far :P

[theunderestimator-2]

The Subway Sect Mark II shattered after performing their Club Left 'Songs For Sale' set in Paris in 1981 as captured by Sarah Partridge (photo no.1).

So what did punks do after the early days of filth and fury? By ’78, the early UK punk scene was already fracturing: after the Pistols crashed & burned, a fraternity of post punk musicians attempted to break from punk clichés and experiment with non-rock styles, Crass declared that punk was dead, as did Pete Shelley with Buzzcocks entering their pop punk formative phase while street punk and Oi! Bands attempted to redefine punk.

Vic Godard was there right from the very start, since his Subway Sect were among the performers at the legendary 100 Club ’76 Punk Festival sharing the bill with Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Clash and the Sex Pistols.

theguardian.com/ : “Vic, in league with Bernie Rhodes, was thinking of an even more shocking revolt against conventional taste: cocktail jazz. Rhodes persuaded Godard to ditch the original Sect and hired a fresh group of musicians with a little more swing than the original band. One of the first public expressions of this was Club Left, a regular night that ran at the Whisky a Go Go in Soho as the ‘80s began. The idea was to annoy everyone. But this sonic handbrake turn went on to point a lot of music – and a lot of punks – in a very different direction.”

The Clash’s manager Bernard Rhodes recruited keyboardist Dave Collard (photo no.2 by Coneyl Jay), bassist Chris Bostock (photo no.3 by Ian Usher), guitarist Rob Marche (photo no.4) and drummer Sean McLusky (photo no.5), key members of various Bristol groups, who along with Vic Godard formed a new incarnation of Subway Sect with a completely different sound influenced by ’40s-style crooner music mixed with jazz, soul, rockabilly and skiffle, which was referred to as ‘Cool Bop and Swing’. These cool cats, a London ‘Rat Pack’ with Johnny Britton as the regular Club Left DJ, even toured extensively and their refined set became the “Songs for Sale” album.

“I remember looking down from the club’s floor-to-ceiling window one night just before opening, and seeing a queue stretching round the corner into Shaftesbury Avenue. We attracted an amazingly eclectic crowd, and you never knew who would turn up together with our hard-core regulars…”. Rob Marche “Club Left hosted a weekly array of great performers. If it had an ethos, it was a simple nod to the Beatnik past of Soho and Paris of the 60's”. Sean McLusky

The far-retro Club Left project reintroduced various people to easy listening. Artists such as Sade or the group of young women, who had supplied occasional backing vocals for the likes of Shane McGowan’s first band, the Nipple Erectors, and went on to become Bananarama. When Vic Godard got married and took a break from music in ’82, the rest of the band with the addition of Dig Wayne became the JoBoxers, fusing elements of northern soul, rockabilly, NY disco and funk.

(via, via, via, via)

[espys-art-stuff]

This has been brushed under the table by Wall Street (who own Norfolk Southern) and the Ohio/Pennsylvania govts, but reporting on it because it's a disaster: As a result of rail corruption/mismanagement (and USgov thanos snapping the rail strikes), a Norfolk Southern chemical freight train was derailed and spilled its load on Feb 3 near East Palestine (a town on the very eastern side of Ohio), which then apparently exploded. [Apparently. Lots of claims going around, but I can't find a source.] They decided to burn the vinyl chloride to stop it from leeching into the environment further, because letting it leech into the air was better I guess. This is relevant for anyone living in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and potentially Western New York. The chemicals reported to be carried were Vinyl Chloride [carcinogen with a boiling point of 8F/-13C that releases dangerous gases into the atmosphere], Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, Ethylhexyl Acrylate [carcinogen], and Isobutylene. The train was 50 cars long.

Immediate effects have shown up in East Ohio and West PA, including reports of "acrid smells", as well as smoke clouds and fish, birds, and foxes turning up dead. Contaminants are confirmed to have reached the Ohio River and have leeched into the water supply of vulnerable towns in West Virginia. Local water sources and well water should be avoided and treated with scrutiny, as far as Eastern/southern Ohio, Northern WV, and Western PA. It is unclear what other water supplies have been contaminated, but veering on the side of caution for now is better - tests are still being taken and the situation is developing.

As a result of the burn, Phosgene gas and Hydrogen Chloride are spreading into the atmosphere. Hydrogen Chloride, now pumped into the air as a result of the burn, bonds with water vapor and turns into Hydrochloric Acid. This may cause acid rain. The wind is blowing west to northeast and affects Eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania and potentially, should it reach far enough, parts of Western NY (though it's unclear how far this is going to spread). This will affect people and animals over the long term on a scale comparable to 9/11 and some of the worst oil spills, and was entirely preventable had rail companies not cut corners on the operation and safety of their trains and train routes. Additionally, two more trains with hazardous material have derailed in South Carolina and Texas, though no known burns have occurred from those yet.

[uselessopinionsaroundfood]

Le Supreme - Lyon France - 9/7/2024

Le Supreme

The French do food better.  Don’t argue with me, get on a plane, eat in France, and then stop pretending like I’m not right. I’m a fortunate eater.  What does that mean? It means I prioritize food and so I’ve gotten to eat at top restaurants around the world, and I’ve eaten meat, vegetable, and sweet dishes that I’ll remember more than the date of any anniversary (which I have a tendency to forget).   So, what makes the French so good? I think the obvious answer could be butter. But having been here for three days I haven’t gotten any butter, not even at the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  They have soy milk and peanut butter (not together) but no butter. But that’s not what makes their food so good.  I’m going to eat more this week to prove my theory, but this first thought is about last night’s dinner at Lyon’s Le Supréme, and supreme it was.  

But before we get to that, let’s go back a few years.  I was in Northern Spain with some friends, and we were there for the midlife crisis reason of running from the bulls.  I know it’s with the bulls, but if you’ve ever done it, you know you aren’t running with them.  Knowing that northern Spain is known as one of the culinary capitals of the world there was no way we could not hit at least one top Michelin spot.  Now if you’re not a Michelin believer don’t worry, stick with me here, and if you are, stick with me cause I’m probably going to make you mad.  Either way, come for the ride.  We made reservations at Mugaritz, considered one of the top 10 restaurants in the entire world, with 2 Michelin stars (they’ve got one to spare apparently).  We arrived at the beautiful farm-like setting and were instantly impressed.  We then walked into the restaurant where tables were set so far apart from each other it felt like each table was a private restaurant. Before we ordered we were offered a kitchen tour and took a photo with one of the chefs.  The kitchen was immaculate and silent, setting the stage for perfection.  But that’s where perfection ended.  This isn’t about Mugartiz, this writing is about French Food, but the next three hours were the worst dining experience I’ve ever had, and I just ate food on British Airways.  This experience brought everything about fine dining into question: What’s more important presentation or flavor?  Real and natural ingredients or molecular gastronomy?  And more than anything it made me realize that the Michelin guide has become more about places not to eat vs ones to visit if your goal is great food over prestige and politics.  Michelin fans mad yet?  Michelin has lost its credibility with actual food lovers.  Mugaritz was the most expensive and disappointing meal of my life, to this day.  We went and got pizza afterwards.  Also, there was just a story about a diner who refused to pay at Mugaritz because the food was so bad, so I’m not alone.  So why tell that story, other than hoping it keeps you from wasting your money there?  Because it highlights the difference between the perception of greatness and the reality of greatness in dining.  

Last night, at a local’s recommendation, I went to a small restaurant in the heart of Lyon, next to a subway station entrance.  It’s so unassuming I walked past the entrance.  The setting feels like any nice neighborhood restaurant, nothing to write home about but a place you could happily spend a few hours with friends and feel wonderfully welcomed.  Le Supreme is owned by a husband and wife team, and what you wouldn’t expect from the lack of pomp and circumstance is that he trained at Danielle in NY for 8 years. 

So here is a French chef who has trained with one of the best chefs in the world, so should I be getting ready for foams, gelee and presentation over flavor?  No.  this is why no one does it better than the French. At the core of every dish is letting the fresh ingredients shine through, letting them do the work that they are supposed to do, not covering them up with unnecessary fuss for the sake of Instagram, although these were beautiful dishes.  The menu is either a 4 or 5 course meal, with two choices for each course, except for their signature Blond Liver cake.  The menu changes based on ingredient availability and chef desires.  I went with four courses, reasonably priced, with the wine pairing (I’m in France, did I have a choice?).  The first dish was a “perfect egg” with butternut squash, a slight balsamic reduction, chanterelles, and bits of black truffle.   I might actually stop writing this so go back to the restaurant to get more now.  The next course was their signature blond liver cake with a chorizo and popcorn topping and while most liver cakes are bitter, this Lyon specialty had a subtle and refreshing sweetness to it, wait I might actually go back to the restaurant to get this one now.  That was followed by the single best duck breast I’ve ever had.  Served perfectly cooked in a subtly sweet reduction with beets, beet chips, radish slices, and some citrus it seemed like I could cut this duck with my fork. This was French cuisine at its best.  So, what makes it so good? Why am I saying no one does it better than the French?  In all the meals I’ve had, the best are the ones that do amazing things with great ingredients and realize that no chef can do anything better than what nature has already done.  Showcase what they offer and get out of the way.  Each of these dishes aren’t ones I could recreate in my own kitchen, they use skill sets far beyond my training (or lack thereof) but what Le Supreme did again and again was let you taste everything in each dish, everything was there for a reason and was allowed its moment to shine.  Nothing was there for show, nothing overpowered anything else, they were all great friends at the same party, and excited to hear what each of them had to share.  French cooking does this better than anyone, so enjoy cuisine from around the world, it has a lot to offer, but just remember, the French have set the bar for fine dining, they love their ingredients, and they probably added more butter than you. 

[beardedmrbean]

Mayor Eric Adams warned that the raging migrant crisis will “destroy” New York City and tore into President Biden for ignoring his pleas for help, saying the White House has given “no support” for the thousands of asylum seekers arriving each month.

“I’m gonna tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this,” Adams said at a town hall on the Upper West Side Wednesday night. “This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City.”

Hizzoner took aim at Biden for not stepping in with federal assistance as the city has received more than 110,000 migrants in the past year.

“Month after month I stood up and said this is gonna come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we’re here, we’re getting no support on this national crisis, and we’re receiving no support,” Adams said.

Adams also blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a “madman” for busing illegal border crossers to New York and other liberal cities.

“Go item for item on what Eric Adams ran for as a candidate and look at what we accomplished in 20 months: We turned this city around in 20 months, and then what happened?” Adams said.

“Started with a madman down in Texas who decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City.”

The first migrant-filled bus from Texas arrived at Midtown’s Port Authority on Aug. 5, 2022, and thousands more migrants have shown up in the rest of the five boroughs in the following months.

“One hundred ten thousand migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care,” Adams said.

Texas has sent over 13,000 migrants to New York, according to data shared by Abbott earlier this week.

The mayor said the Big Apple receives around 10,000 migrants a month, at first from Venezuela, but then Ecuadorian nationals and Russian-speaking individuals came up from Mexico as time went on.

“Now we’re getting Western Africa, now we’re getting people from all over the globe that made their minds up that they’re gonna come through the southern border and coming to New York City,” Adams added.

The financial cost alone has reverberated throughout the city as the government is spending millions to house the migrants.

The Department of Homeless Services has given $35 million to two NYC hotels to house migrants.

“Everyone is saying it is New York City’s problem. Every community in this city is going to be impacted. We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us,” Adams said.

“All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000 and I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew, we’re about to lose, and we are all in this together, all of us,” he added.

A large majority of New Yorkers share the lawmakers’ feelings on the crisis as 82% say it is a serious problem for the city while 58% want to stop the flow from the southern border, according to a recent Sienna College survey.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) on Wednesday also ripped the Biden administration for the “dangerous” impact that its border policies are having on the entire Empire State.

“Joe Biden’s Far Left open border policies have caused our Northern Border to see an unprecedented and historic surge in illegal immigration and Kathy Hochul’s ‘Sanctuary State’ policies have further incentivized this dangerous surge,” Stefanik said.

“Now we have reports of murder and rapes committed by illegal immigrants in Upstate New York. Enough is enough. It is time for Joe Biden to secure our Southern and Northern Border and the quickest way to do that is for [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-NY] to pass and Biden to sign into law House Republicans’ Secure the Border Act, which is the strongest border security bill in history and would put an end to the Biden border crisis.”

[thefaestolemyname-ecobioposting]

iNat Adventures with thefaestolemyname part 2: Golden Beach Campground, New York State!

Part 1/?

I made this post earlier, but it didn't save properly in drafts so I gotta start over :/

Before I begin with species and fun facts, first a question for anyone who might live in NY: What is this? Why??

It was a simple 4-way intersection!

In Ontario we have this for the same scenario:

Is this an American thing? Just a New York thing? There's gotta be a good reason for that mess.

Back on topic, we start off with a banger:

Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus)

(The pic is rotated that's why the grass is weird) Recognized them right away because I found one in a swamp nearer to home in June, can't find the post to link. They can handle freezing 65-70% of the water in their body, and the reason why has to do with urea, glucose, and "amino acid substitutions in the ... ATP binding site" (Wood frog - Wikipedia). They depend on multiple habitats, breed in seasonal pools, and have large ranges.

Dragonfly/Damsel fly (order Odonata)

I know, I know, hear me out. At first I had no idea who this shed exoskeleton represented, but apparently Dragonflies have a life cycle in which little things that look like this hatch out of eggs, moult many times, and after their final moult look like a proper dragonfly. Now, this suit of armour's abdomen looks too large for me to be fully convinced it's a dragonfly, but it's the best guess so far.

Dragonfly | Description, Anatomy, Habitat, Life Cycle, & Facts | Britannica

Leopard Earthball (Scleroderma areolatum)

As usual with mushrooms, not 100% confident with this ID, and not a ton of info on the species. The inside is supposed to be full of black spores so the mushroom, instead of raining spores from gills, is like a pouch of spores. I'm pretty sure I'm in the ballpark though, as it's definitely an earthball of some sort. I couldn't find a species on iNat that had pics that showed the same amount of flakiness as these guys.

Scleroderma areolatum, Leopard Earthball fungus (first-nature.com)

Ghost Pipes (Monotropa uniflora)

Re-writing this section is a shame because I just cannot re-produce the excitement. I was nothing less than ecstatic to find a mycoheterotroph. I had read about this almost mystical, otherworldly, ethereal treasure of a living being in Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life, but never thought I had a good chance of seeing any in real life. These guys have a history of baffling scientists, and are the source of much of our understanding of the nature of Mycorrhizal networks. In short, they have no chloroplasts and no roots - they cannot photosynthesize and they cannot bring in nutrients or moisture from the soil. How then do they survive? Fungi! All the carbon, energy, and more that it uses to build and sustain itself comes from other plants through the Mycorrhizal networks that span forests. I could go on and on about how these plants represent magic living on and even through a scientific world, but this caption is already too long.

All About Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) - Unruly Gardening

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake | Goodreads

Yellow Club Fungus (Clavulinopsis Helvola)

At first I thought it was Golden Spindles fungus, (C. Fusiformis), but after looking into more detail I figured C. Helvola was more likely because of size. Honestly, I thought they might be Cordyceps at first because that's the only club-shaped fungus I remember reading about, but nope. Apparently the spores are covered in warts, which distinguishes them from other Clavulinopsis species, but I was not prepared to take specimens for further inspection this time. In a rare occurrence, I am almost semi-confident about this ID. Surely I got the right genus?

E-Flora BC Atlas Page (ubc.ca)

Northern Red Belt (Fomitopsis mounceae)

This one I am also semi-confident in my identification of. It's got a red belt at the end and is in North America, it's bumpy/warty and has a white underside, and was found on a dead tree at low elevation, all characteristics of F. Mounceae. This species was distinguished from F. pinicola by Irene Mounce (A Canadian! 🇨🇦), after whom it was named.

Fomitopsis mounceae (MushroomExpert.Com)

[jackalopescruff]

ARF ARF BARK AWROOOOOI

im high and silly oubby and i love moxie and from maine the place it xame from and have werid moxie facts

and im arf arf

Moxie rules! I used to get it where I used to live in northern NY bc i was far enough north i guess. so like one day my silly autistic ass just like deep dive looked shit up on moxie. love that weird bev

[finishinglinepress]

NEW FROM FINISHING LINE PRESS: GOAT FARM ROAD: Poems from the Adirondacks by Catherine Norr

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/goat-farm-road-poems-from-the-adirondacks-by-catherine-norr/

Goat Farm Road: Poems from the Adirondacks presents a glimpse into #life being lived in a little-populated area of #Upstate New York, off-grid, in woodland and wildlife surroundings. The collection is an invitation to share the healing silence and visual delights of seasons and nature unfolding. Some lyrical selections touch on aging, brush with cancer and mortality. Others are lighter, more playful. A few haiku and tanka deliver quick snapshots of the author’s observations, while longer #poems provide inner meditations and reflections.

Catherine Norr (nee Smither) grew up in New Orleans, LA. She now divides her year between Upstate NY and Northern Arizona, and participates in a longstanding poetry critique group via Zoom. Norr’s #poetry publications include a chapbook, “Return to Ground” (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and in journals such as Avocet, Evening Street Review, Orion, Misfit; Stockade Spy and others. Essays were published in The Sun and online at the SVAN (Sacandaga Valley Arts Network.) She has been featured reader at Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, and founded and hosted the Open-Mic poetry reading at Arthur’s Market, Schenectady, #NY, among other active involvements with the N.Y. Capital District poetry community.

PRAISE FOR GOAT FARM ROAD: Poems from the Adirondacks by Catherine Norr

Catherine Norr’s new chapbook unveils quiet wonders along woodland roads through the Adirondack mountains. We are shown turtles hatching from their shells, leaves crackling with color, and the tangible silence of a quilted cloud. Even as a frightening diagnosis looms, these tanka, haiku, and free verse poems celebrate nature’s miraculous transformations.

—Jackie Craven, author of Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters and Our Lives Became Unmanageable

This lovely collection brings to mind the Japanese term shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, scientifically proven to be good for your health. If you cannot get to the Adirondacks, stroll through these pages, where you will find a similarly salutary peace and calm. Norr uses sequences of Japanese forms, both tanka and haiku, as well as free verse, to reach our destination, “Goat Farm Road”: “so far off the main highway / that a GPS shows it only as / leave the road —“. If you travel with her, “awareness alters as you pass through the veil” (“On the Road to Mountain Cabin”) to where “Wood Thrush melodies haunt the forest” and “deep breaths come easy” (“Spring Back Home Is:”). You will want to return again and again to this quiet place, and its feelings “tender, so tender” (“Seedling Reflects”).

–Barbara Ungar, author of Save Our Ship and After Naming the Animals.

Please share/repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #read #poems #literature #poetry

[ichorofthelastlament]

So the perfect storm has struck and I have created a map of Kasht! This has actually helped clearing up some of the clogging in the world building machine, and has lead to some changes, so here's a basic rundown of the continent.

First and foremost, where it all begins, Akma. I've changed it into a kingdom rather than a city state, which actually doesn't change much. Akma is mostly a desert region and the yellow-green zone between it and Illora is where most settlements lie. Akma is still technically a city, a bit of a NY vs NYC situation, and as the largest settlement in the region it is the defacto ruling city. Surrounding towns and villages aren't officially under the rule of the royal family of the city, but they choose to maintain the relationship because of the benefits it brings. Mainly being protection from the Vae, which you'd think they'd avoid the region since its a hot as hell sunny desert but that is not the case. In return the city is the middleman of trade for materials beyond their actual territory. Technically there are communities living in the depths of the desert but they are rarely seen or spoken of, they are almost folk tale.

Illora is a grassy flatland of fertile earth right next to Akma. This region is made up of mostly self sustained smaller settlements with a few large city states throughout. There used to be more major city states and a lot more war in the region, but eventually things broke down and people migrated to live in smaller towns and villages. The still standing city states still get a lot of traction though, and serve as centers of trade in the region.

Saeyah is known as the land of rivers, but technically it has one massive river running through it with an extensive branching system that reaches through out the region. Because of this the region is a bit of a wetland, and almost all settlements big and small are built along the riverbank of the central system. So travel is quiet easy. It is in fact a kingdom with it's two major cities being located at the northern and southernmost points of the river.

Then we have Dhaga, a murky and mountainous region that is inhabited by a multitude of nomaid groups. They do not engage in as much trade as the aforementioned regions, but what they do trade is precious stones. Which they have plenty of. This region is also full of very odd creatures, weirder than the typical creatures of the night and far more numerous. Many outside the region are wary of those from within due to it's proximity of the Mryst.

The Mryst is home to the vae, not much is known about it.

[ohc-and-the-music-tapes-archive]

Announcement of the Music Tapes' 2010 Holiday Lullabye Extravaganza tour on the Orbiting Human Circus facebook, 11th October 2010.

It's New Music Tapes Adventure Time Again! :0

Our announcement at : www.orbitinghumancircus.com !

Merge records announcement as follows:

The Music Tapes bring dreamlike slumberal enchantments to houses across the land this fall!

This November and December, The Music Tapes will be bringing a comforting, enchanting, and very special evening of Music Tapes’ dreamlike songs, stories and games for sleepover parties to ordinary homes across the land (US and Canada). The Music Tapes are now accepting invitations, and plan to visit nearly 200 homes! As with the Music Tapes’ caroling and lullaby travels of years past, they will stop at several houses a night in each city visiting also far off out of the way places most tours never get to go.

To invite The Music Tapes to share their magic with you and your friends, simply send an invitation to: lullabyedeliveries@gmail.com. Or (even better) a letter to: The Minister of Lullabies at 450 N Harris St, Athens, GA 30601 (letters must be received by October 20th and include all contact information.) The invitations of greatest warmth will be chosen in each area in the order in which they are received. Houses open to welcoming other fans in the area to view the performance will be given special priority. The location and time of your visit will be kept secret.

If your invitation is chosen, simply plan your own sleepover or holiday gathering, and you will be given a range of times in which The Music Tapes will arrive and fill your house for nearly an hour with songs, games, stories, and more. The merry band of travelers known as The Music Tapes will then leave you again with your friends, families, and dreams, and continue on to the next house on that night’s list. If you choose to make your house one of the “open” houses and welcome a limited number of other Music Tapes fans in your area, the time and address of your visit will still be kept secret, but be made available by email only to fans in your area (from lullabyedeliveries@gmail.com) once the tour begins.

The Lullaby evenings with include songs from the Music Tapes forthcoming 2011 record, as well as from Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes, The 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, and The Singing Saw at Christmastime, along with new Music Tapes games and stories. The entertainment, though sometimes more exciting than lulling, are all in honor of the comforting moments directly preceding and following sleep when we find ourselves happily unsure of whether we are awake or are dreaming.

For more information, write lullabyedeliveries@gmail.com to receive an automatic reply and as always visit The Music Tapes’ online home at orbitinghumancircus.com.

Proposed Path and Dates:

November 2nd, 3rd and 4th: Alabama; Tennessee; Florida Panhandle; and SE Louisiana

November 5th, 6th and 7th: Western Louisiana; Texas

November 8th, 9th, 10th: New Mexico; Arizona; Nevada

November 11th, 12th, 13th: Southern; and Central California

November 14th, 15th, 16th: Central California; and Oregon

November 17th, 18th, and 19th: Washington; and British Columbia, Canada November 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd: Idaho; Utah; and Colorado

November 24th, 25th, and 26th: Denver, Colorado; Nebraska; Minnesota November 27th, 28th, 29th: Illinois; Michigan; and Northern Ohio

November 30th, December 1st, and 2nd: Western Pennsylvania; Western NY; Toronto, Ontario Canada

December 3rd, 4th, and 5th: Montreal, QC Canada; Vermont; Western Massachusetts December 6th, 7th and 8th: Upstate New York; NYC

December 9th, 10th, and 11th: Maryland; Washington, DC; Virginia; Delaware December 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th: Asheville, NC; Atlanta, GA; Athens, GA

www.mergerecords.com

[weather-usa]

Coast-to-coast high temperatures are unusual. When can we expect the heat wave to end?

Sure, it's summer and it’s supposed to be hot, but not this extreme. When will it start to cool down?

Sure, it’s summer and hot weather is expected, but not this extreme.

Nearly the entire nation has been enduring higher-than-usual temperatures due to a weeks-long, record-breaking heat wave, partly driven by climate change. Forecasts indicate that relief is not coming soon.

See more: Climate and Average Weather Year Round in 12572 - Rhinebeck NY:

"I don’t anticipate any significant change in the weather pattern at this point," AccuWeather long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok told USA TODAY, noting that above-average temperatures are expected to continue across the country into the fall.

This week, over 160 million Americans were under some form of heat alert, according to Heat.gov. Intense heat has affected much of the western U.S. and large areas of the South, Southeast, mid-Atlantic, and southern New England.

"Near-record high temperatures will persist across parts of the Southwest this week," the National Weather Service warned. "This prolonged heat wave remains extremely dangerous and potentially deadly if not treated with caution."

It is far too hot, with 160 million people under heat alerts as temperatures shatter records.

Expanding high pressure will maintain elevated temperatures

Pastelok explained that a large, dominant high-pressure system is driving the heat in the West, which is expected to spread into the central U.S. by next week. High-pressure areas cause air to sink, preventing the formation of cooling clouds and rain.

As a result, much of the country will continue to experience extreme heat by mid-next week. Weather Forecast For 54220-Manitowoc-WI:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/200902091/Weather-Forecast-For-54220-Manitowoc-WI

With few fluctuations in the jet stream, Pastelok noted, there’s nothing to disrupt this persistent pattern.

Maps indicate weeks of above-average summer heat

Forecast maps from the federal Climate Prediction Center for the coming days and weeks are predominantly orange and red, signaling that above-average temperatures are likely.

The prediction center reports that the weather pattern for next week "supports above-normal temperatures across nearly the entire continental U.S. and Hawaii. The highest likelihood of above-normal temperatures is in the Southeast and the northern Intermountain West."

While summers are typically hot, it's crucial to recognize that the current heat events in the U.S. and around the world are well beyond normal.

June marked the 13th consecutive month of record-warm temperatures globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This means that every month for over a year has been the warmest ever recorded. Additionally, a study published last year found that 2023 was the hottest summer in 2,000 years.

Climate change amplifies temperature increases

Meteorologists Jeff Masters and Bob Henson noted on the Yale Climate Connections blog that unusually warm temperatures on both coasts are being intensified by climate change.

"Extreme heat expected today across large areas of the West and the mid-Atlantic is 400% more likely due to climate change, according to an analysis by Climate Central, a nonprofit research group," the meteorologists reported.

Scientists warn that heat waves will keep intensifying if global emissions from fossil fuel combustion continue to rise.

See more:

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-19708

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-19709

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-19710

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-19711

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-19712

[stephen-barry]

Trump’s Conviction Renews Push to Strip His Name From a New York State Park...

Legislative efforts to rename Donald J. Trump State Park in northern Westchester County have failed so far, but some lawmakers want to try again...

*petition*

Rename the Donald J. Trump State Park - to the Pete Seeger State Park

Regardless of political party affiliation, the Donald J. Trump State Parks in Yorktown and Putnam Valley, NY, have been riddled with controversy long before they became parks and long before Trump chose to run for President of the United States...